Red Sun
by Nina542
Summary: Months after Syria, Gabriel and Riley land in Tokyo to join forces with Agent Charlie Griffin, this time to stop an assassination attempt on Japan's Prime Minister during President Finnegan's Asian tour. But when the mission goes sideways and Riley's life is put in danger, Gabriel will do anything to save her – even team up with Griffin, who has his own mission of winning her back.
1. The Mission

**A/N: Hello, fandom! The person who introduced me to Intelligence said I would like it because of the complex relationship between Riley and Gabriel. I watched one episode and was hooked. Love those two!**

**Hope you enjoy. **

* * *

**Angel's Bluff, Virginia**  
**Cyber-Command Fitness and Training Room**  
**07:36 EST**

Special Agent Gabriel Vaughn was flat on his back. Stars were swimming before his eyes, and as he dizzily stared up at it, he was fairly certain that the ceiling of the training room hadn't always been that ugly moss green tile.

"Geez…" he groaned, wondering what idiot ever thought sparring on gym mats would soften a fall when you landed head first. "The hell was _that_…?"

The hum and buzz of the large room, the sound of weights clanging, and fellow agents exercising, didn't block out the sound of one snarky male voice. "From where I'm standing, 'that' was you getting your ass kicked."

Scowling, Gabriel rolled his head to the side and spotted Chris Jameson standing a few feet away, arms crossed and smirking at him. Like Gabriel, the neckline of his T-shirt was stained with a dark arc of sweat, and his hair, normally combed and neat, stuck out at odd places. Jameson cocked an eyebrow at his friend, daring a rebuttal.

Gabriel narrowed his eyes. "You can be next, you know."

He knew he had to get up, but the world was still spinning a bit too fast for his liking. Not that Gabriel would ever admit to it. If he did, his partner would worry about the microchip in his brain and haul his ass to the doc's for a day's worth of scans and probes. You didn't mess around when it came to billions of dollars of cutting-edge, top-secret government technology.

Jameson's smirk grew wider. "And end up on my back like you? Think I'll pass, thanks." Turning his attention to someone standing at Gabriel's feet, Jameson waggled his eyebrows. "Nicely done with that take down, by the way. Wouldn't want come up against you in a dark alley."

Following Jameson's gaze, Gabriel looked to find Riley Neal; his partner, protector, and friend watching him with hands on hips. Her lips were pulled up in a triumphant smile. Her long, dark hair was tied back in a ponytail. Her cheeks were flushed from their sparring match, and the low-cut tank-top she wore revealed a chest that glistened from exertion.

Not that Gabriel was looking there.

"Thanks," Riley replied. "Actually haven't used that move since my second day at Secret Service. Good to see I've still got it." She eyed her partner as he continued to lay prone on the mat. "You all right?"

Although her tone was light, Gabriel could tell from the way she kept watching him that Riley was starting to grow concerned over the fact that he hadn't yet gotten back on his feet.

"Just peachy," he growled as the room finally stopped spinning.

"Then get up, princess." Her voice was teasing, but layered. Then, as if realizing what would definitely get him moving again, she bent at the waist and raised one perfectly arched brow with a mischievous smile. "Or are three minutes all you can handle?"

As Jameson chuckled at the double entendre, Gabriel made a fast decision: worried or not, Riley was going to get it for that one.

They'd been partners for almost a year now, so she knew Gabriel's strengths and weakness and he could handle Riley kicking his ass. He could also more-or-less handle her calling him a princess. She seemed to delight in that one. But for some reason, and especially since Jin Cong's EMP attack a month ago, the idea of Riley Neal questioning his sexual prowess was not something Gabriel was okay with.

Not that he was about to think of why. Right now, it was time to exact some sweet revenge.

"Oh, I'm plenty ready to handle more," Gabriel breezed, rolling onto his side and propping himself up on his forearm. "The only question is; are _you_?"

Without any other warning, Gabriel snapped his leg around and literally swept Riley off her feet. With a yelp, she crashed onto her back and a moment later Gabriel was straddling her hips and grabbing hold of her wrists to pin them on either side of her head.

Immobilized, Riley stared up at Gabriel first in surprise, then with annoyance as she realized he'd managed to catch her so completely off guard.

With a shake of his head and a _tisk-tisk, _Gabriel leaned close and murmured low and teasing; "Guess you weren't."

Their faces now only inches apart, Riley tensed under him and Gabriel's smirk started to fade as he became acutely aware of just how close they were. He could feel the smallest of Riley's movements. He could see the pulse in the curve of her throat. Sense the heat radiating from her cheeks. Count every crease in her full, bottom lip. There she was – trapped so submissively and defencelessly beneath him, and –

"Gabriel…" Riley said in a slow, dangerous voice. "Get off of me."

He blinked. Then blinked again.

Right.

"What, no 'please'?" he quipped, hoping to cut through the air of tension that had thickly descended around them.

If looks could kill, Gabriel would have died letting go of Riley's wrists.

Getting to his feet, he offered her a hand up but his partner was already standing. Standing, and backing away from him. Arms crossed, she stared at the mats while pointedly clearing her throat. There was a tense pause, and when Riley finally met Gabriel's eyes, he saw a mask.

"I think I'll do some weights," she deadpanned.

Ouch.

Just then, the opening theme song from _Buffy the Vampire Slayer_ cut through the air, causing heads to turn. The sound was coming from Riley's cell, left next to her water bottle on the edge of the mats. She had a call.

While his partner walked away to answer her phone, Gabriel suddenly realized that Jameson was still standing off to the side, watching them. Which meant he had witnessed Gabriel and Riley's…whatever the hell it was…in its entirety.

As if on cue, Jameson raised an eyebrow at Gabriel and gave him a knowing look.

Great. That was just great.

The theme music ended when Riley pressed the Talk button. "Neal here." Listening to the speaker on the other end, she picked up her water bottle and took a quick swig. "Okay, we're just in the training room," Riley told the caller. "Be there in twenty." As she disconnected, the serious look on her face read that it was game time. "That was Nelson," Riley explained, darting her eyes between Gabriel and Jameson. "An op just came down the line and we've gotta move on it fast. I'll meet you guys in C-DOC."

Waiting only half a second for the two men's nods of understanding, Riley made a hasty retreat towards the change rooms without so much as a backwards glance.

Jameson joined Gabriel on the mats. "Well, that was…" he trailed off in contemplation.

Arms crossed and frowning, Gabriel watched his partner continue her fast getaway. "Awkward as all hell?" he offered. "She's a sore loser."

"Right, because _Riley's _the one with the problem, here." There was a pause before Jameson continued on. "Word of advice?"

"Oh, this should be good…"

Jameson moved so that he was facing Gabriel and set him with a serious look. "Ever since that EMP messed with your head, something's changed between you and Riley. Now, I get that you two are close and maybe that attack made you closer, but trust me; you don't want to fall for her. Not when she's supposed to take bullets for you."

Something painful twisted in Gabriel's chest. "I'm not falling for her."

Snorting a bitter laugh, Jameson clapped a hand on his friend's shoulder. "Sure you're not." Then he retreated to the change rooms, leaving Gabriel to his thoughts.

* * *

**Angel's Bluff, Virginia**  
**Cyber-Command Cyber Defense Operations Center (C-DOC)**  
**08:02 EST**

Cyber-Com Director Lillian Strand walked into a bustling roomful of agents, holding a tablet that controlled the line of screens she headed towards. Searching, she saw Gabriel silently leaning against a computer terminal off to the side, with Riley rigidly standing a step behind him; her hair still wet from a fast shower. Reaching the wall of screens at the front of the room, Lillian spotted Nelson Cassidy to her right, sitting in front of a computer monitor and gesturing to it as Jameson hovered over his shoulder.

The kids were all here.

Lillian swiped a finger over the tablet and a satellite image of Japan popped up behind her. "Listen up, people," she began, bringing eyes up front and all noise to an end. "Less than an hour ago, we intercepted some chatter between two nationals in Tokyo, concerning an assassination planned against Prime Minister Shinzo Abe." She zoomed the satellite image until it focused on an aerial view of Tokyo's Roppongi District, and highlighted one particular building. "Intel's limited at this stage, but it seems that whomever is planning the attack is going to be making their move during a banquet that's being held tomorrow night at the Grand Hyatt hotel," she pointed to the highlighted building, "in honour of President Finnegan's visit to Japan."

The mention of the American president's name caught Gabriel's attention. "Finnegan? What's he doing in the Land of the Rising Sun?"

"It's the first stop on his Asian tour," Riley explained, keeping her eyes on Lillian. "Besides discussing economic and diplomatic issues, the president wants to bring Japan into the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement."

Lillian gave a short nod, glad that _one_ of her agents was keeping up with current events. "Correct. TPP negotiations are set to begin the morning after the banquet."

Nelson raised his hand in question. "So, uh, is the Prime Minister of Japan secretly the grown-up version of Astro Boy or something? Because that's the only reason _I_ wouldn't be cancelling dinner if I knew someone was trying to kill_ me_."

Jameson shot his friend a patronizing look, mouthing the words "_Astro Boy?"_

Lillian pressed a finger to her tablet and the mug shot of a scowling Japanese man appeared on one of the screens. Only his left eye was open. "The Prime Minister wants to proceed because we've been able to identify one of the two nationals as this individual." She gestured to the photo. "Meet Kiyoshi Takayama, also known as the second-in-command for the Yamaguchi clan."

"Yamaguchi?" Riley repeated. "As in the yakuza?" She glanced at Gabriel, looking wary. "The Japanese mafia is behind the assassination?"

"It gets better." Gabriel's eyes were sharp as he stared off into space, using the chip to pull up more information. "Takayama here didn't make it to second-in-command by fetching coffee. Besides losing his right eye in a sword fight, this guy's been implicated in arms deals, extortion, drug dealing, contract killings, and…" he frowned. "…human trafficking."

"Badass…" Nelson whispered in awe.

Riley shot him a scathing look. "There's nothing badass about kidnapping innocent girls and forcing them into prostitution."

"Wait, no, I-I didn't mean that," Nelson stammered. "Just the sword part is - " He caught Gabriel glaring at him and went silent. "Sorry."

Lillian continued on, unfazed. "Prime Minister Abe has had a target on his back ever since he passed some heavy legislation named the Yakuza Exclusionary Laws a few weeks ago. Essentially, these laws make it illegal for civilians to share profits with gang members, or give them money in any way. This includes protection money, blackmail, extortion, racketeering…the list goes on. Needless to say, this has been a big hit to the yakuza; and will cost them millions, if not billions. Killing Abe would send a very big message back to the Cabinet, but he won't back down. The banquet is proceeding as planned because he wants the yakuza to know he isn't afraid of them and will do whatever it takes to break the stranglehold they have on his country."

"Even if letting the dinner happen puts the President of the United States at risk, too," Gabriel added. "Ballsy."

Lillian faced him. "Which is why I'm sending you and Riley to Tokyo. Obviously Takayama knows better than to show up at the banquet himself, so we need you to use the chip and identify anyone at the dinner who could have ties to Takayama or the Yamaguchi clan. It's estimated that there are over 55,000 members, and since we haven't been able to ID the man Takayama was speaking to, any number of them could be part of this plot. And unfortunately, we don't have any intel on how they're planning to execute it."

"Oh, so no pressure, or anything," Gabriel said sardonically. "That's a relief."

Despite the severity of the situation, Lillian allowed herself a small smile at his quip. "Once you land in Tokyo, you'll liaison with Japan's National Guard and of course the Secret Service for the op, and go from there."

As Lillian expected, all eyes went to Riley. After the mission in Syria, everyone had found out about her past relationship with Secret Service Agent Charlie Griffin, and how he had went behind Riley's back to snag the promotion of Detail Leader.

Gabriel flashed his partner a teasing smile which Lillian noticed didn't fully reach his eyes. "Here that, Riley? We get to work with your favourite person again."

"Great." Riley's tone was flat, but Lillian saw something in her expression that suggested she might be more accepting of the idea than not.

Interesting.

The Director glanced at her watch then faced the room. "We're under a crunch here, people, so let's move." As agents jumped into action, Lillian caught Gabriel's eye, knowing she had to set the record straight on one particular item. "Gabriel, I'd like a word?"

He joined her at the front of the room. "Going to ask me to bring home some sushi for you?"

Lillian fixed him with a no-nonsense look and cut straight to the chase. "I read Agent Griffin's post-op report from Syria. He called you a -"

" – 'loose cannon with a cowboy complex'?" Gabriel quoted, flashing a mischievous smile and tapping at his head. "I read it, too."

That wasn't a surprise.

"And you called him a 'whining pansy who couldn't aim'."

He shrugged casually. "I thought that summed it up pretty well." Glancing back at his partner, Gabriel added; "I'm sure Riley would agree."

Lillian cocked an eyebrow at him, sensing tension ahead. "Play nice, children. That's an order."


	2. Thriller

**Roppongi District, Tokyo  
Grand Hyatt Tokyo, Lobby  
16:08 JST**

Riley decided the minute she rolled her suitcase through the sliding doors of the hotel lobby that there was in fact a fourth thing the Japanese could to well other than food, technology, and wide-eyed cartoon characters: chic elegance.

Walking a few slow paces into the vast space, she couldn't help but stop and take it all in; from the beige and black speckled marble floors and cubed chocolate brown waiting chairs, to the nine foot tall abstract paintings, and the long and curving mahogany reception desk dotted with attentive, smartly dressed staff. As the staff bowed and called out to her in greeting, Riley noticed that they stood in front of a floor to ceiling wall of softly glowing panes which immediately reminded her of Japan's iconic sliding shoji doors.

There was a sound of rolling wheels and Gabriel gave a low whistle of appreciation just behind her. "Swanky."

Riley nodded in agreement but knew they couldn't stand there for long. There was still a lot of mission prep to get through before the op was live.

Although she had taken advantage of the sixteen hour flight by reviewing the staff and guest list, memorizing data like hotel specs, exit points, and camera locations, as well as running through potential scenarios, Riley knew it didn't really compare to actually being in the building and seeing things for herself. Luckily, due to the Secret Service running all day sweeps of the hotel's twenty-one floors, which included its 387 rooms and suites, seven restaurants, and thirteen meeting rooms, Riley and Gabriel could concentrate their efforts where it was needed most. Specifically, Riley wanted to check out the Grand Ballroom on the third floor; where the banquet would take place and the assassination was most likely to be attempted. Now that they had arrived at the hotel and passed their SUV over to a white-gloved valet, the next thing to do was go to their room and set up the tech they brought for a quick check-in with CDOC. After that, a thorough sweep of the third floor could begin. Riley wanted to familiarize herself with every inch of it before it was time to dress for the banquet and meet the Prime Minister. He, along with his National Guard, was due to arrive in the hotel's underground parking lot at 5:45, and they would escort the Prime Minister up a service elevator for a 6:00 grand entrance, which would signal the start of cocktails. That was less than two hours away, so there was no time to waste.

Gabriel seemed to be thinking the same thing. "Come on," he said, with a nod towards the reception desk. "Let's go find out how much Uncle Sam sprung for our room this time."

As they rolled their suitcases over, Riley looked up to spot a couple of cameras along the ceiling. "How's our security looking?" she asked her partner.

Gabriel already had that focused-unfocused look in his eyes. "I'm in them now," he replied. "Just like we thought from the specs - tons of coverage from every angle. Especially in the Grand Ballroom."

"Good. Hopefully that'll make this easy." Taking up a large part of the third floor, the Grand Ballroom was essentially a huge, rectangular room, capable of holding up to 1,200 people in a theatre set-up. For the banquet, the space required for tables still left room for almost 600 guests, and lots of places for an assassin to hide. "I'll still want to do a full sweep of the floor, though."

Gabriel gave her a wounded look, like she didn't believe his super-human camera peeping abilities. "Where's the trust, partner?" he teased.

Riley smirked in return. Gabriel knew full well that she, like the rest of the world, lacked the advantage of a billion dollar microchip in her brain. "Call me old-fashioned."

As they exchanged knowing smiles, Riley found herself relieved that after her and Gabriel's awkward sparring moment half a world ago, they were back to their usual banter. It meant the pair had once again managed to forget and move on. To Riley, this pattern seemed to be their modus operandi whenever the shifting lines between protector, partner, and…something else…became blurred. Like when Jin Cong nearly managed to convince Gabriel to shoot her, and she had begged him to look at her and listen to his heart instead of his head. They didn't talk about that, either, even though Riley was morbidly curious to know what sort of feelings looking at her had invoked.

No. It didn't matter. In the end, he had lowered his gun and together they had saved the day. Then Riley had to forget and move on. She _needed_ to forget and move on. There could be no lingering. No wondering, and no questioning. There was just the job, and the job was keeping Gabriel alive.

Anything else was dangerous.

Arriving at to the front desk, the woman who greeted them and asked for their names looked like she was trying to win the award for biggest smile. After a few finger taps on her monitor, she handed them plastic access cards for room 2016 - one floor below the presidential suite where Finnegan was staying.

"You will find the elevators in a hallway around the corner and on the left, across from the Italian café," the woman explained, with a noticeable Japanese accent. Giving a bow, she thanked them for their patronage and hoped they would enjoy their stay.

After returning their own thanks, Riley and Gabriel made their way over, luggage rolling behind them. Passing by more artwork and marble, they were just turning into the hallway – the entrance of which was guarded by a pair of eight foot black and white ceramic heads – when Gabriel suddenly stopped.

Riley's guard went up. Searching for danger, she put a hand over the gun hidden under her blazer. "What is it?"

Gabriel's eyes flickered, looking at something she couldn't see. He must have gone back to watching the cams at some point, and had spotted something amiss.

"Gabriel…?" Riley prompted. "Talk to me."

He met her gaze and quirked an eyebrow. "I suddenly feel like taking the stairs."

Riley blinked.

That had to be a joke.

"It's _twenty _flights," she reminded him, relaxing her guard and feeling annoyed. There was a ding from an elevator at her left, so she jerked at the handle of her luggage and walked towards it. "Why on earth would you want to – "

The doors of the elevator slid open and Riley stopped dead in her tracks as she came face to face with her favourite person: Special Agent in Charge Charlie Griffin.

Ah. Now she understood.

"Thriller!" Griffin exclaimed, flashing her a grin wide enough to give the woman at the front desk some competition for the biggest smile prize. Stepping off the elevator, he eyed Riley's suitcase. "You just got in, huh? I was just coming down to do another sweep of the floor. How's that for timing?"

"Good enough that I'll go out and buy myself a lottery ticket," Riley joked, trying to sound friendly.

Griffin chuckled and she was impressed with how much smoother things already were in comparison to Syria. No underhanded jokes, no overinflated ego. It was all going according to plan.

"Though…" Riley ventured. "I could have sworn you promised not to call me that name again."

Her plan had been simple enough. Although Gabriel thought the last time she and Griffin had seen each other was the black op in Syria, the truth was that after months of the Secret Service agent's badgering and pleads that he wanted to 'make peace' for Panama and stealing her promotion to Detail Leader, Riley had finally agreed to meet him for coffee just a couple of weeks ago after coming to two conclusions. First, she had figured that if they did have coffee together, he'd finally leave her alone. Second, Riley knew from a mission standpoint that it was better to let Griffin think he was clearing the air between them so that in the off-chance they ever worked together again, he would act like a decent human being instead of a complete and utter tool. She knew, of course, that Griffin wasn't really sorry for what he did, and this peacemaking over coffee was just his attempt to keep up appearances now that the cat was out of the bag. Lucky for him, Riley was willing to play along.

On the afternoon they'd met for coffee, Griffin had been busy prepping for President Finnegan's Asian tour, which meant the get-together had been brief. For almost thirty minutes, though, he did little else but apologize for Panama and stealing Riley's promotion, lament that they'd never had a chance to talk about it before she up and vanished, and beg her forgiveness. She had to hand it to Griffin, though. He'd come across as so repentant and sincere, that Riley had almost believed him.

"Sorry, sorry." Griffin raised his hands defensively over the offending code name, flashing her a playful smile. "I forgot. You don't like it."

Almost.

Smiling at her, the playfulness was replaced with something softer. Something that made Riley immediately wonder if things were going a little _too_ well.

"It's good to see you again," he confided. "Last time just wasn't long enough."

Yup. Forget acting like a decent human being – Griffin seemed to be gunning for a second coffee, which meant the first one hadn't just been for an apology after all. He'd been testing the waters.

Damn it. And she'd walked right into it, too. That was just _great_.

To make matters worse, Gabriel was still behind her watching all the drama unfold. He was going to have a field day harassing her about this. Thank God he only knew the half of it.

As if on cue, the charming devil himself materialized at Riley's elbow, so close she could practically feel him.

"I dunno. Felt long enough to me," he said, unaware that the other man meant a café meet-up, and not getting shot at in Syria. "Griffin," Gabriel nodded in greeting.

Any softness in Griffin's eyes was immediately replaced with detachment as he coolly acknowledged Gabriel's presence. "Vaughn." Then he shot Riley a quick glance before opening his mouth for a come-back.

Uh-oh.

"So, Griffin – " Riley jumped in. "Any suspicious activity? Things we should be on the lookout for?"

The agent paused for a second, studying her, then mercifully shook his head. "Nothing yet. My detail's been doing sweeps since 6:00 a.m., as well as watching who's been coming in and out on the cams. So far, this place is secure."

That was close.

Riley knew that Griffin had been about to correct Gabriel's misconception of their actual 'last time'. But there was a very specific reason why Riley had never told her partner about meeting Griffin for coffee: if the truth came out, she'd never hear the end of it. Especially now that her plan had backfired.

Eying their suitcases, the Secret Service agent continued on. "I'm assuming you'll want to do a sweep of the Grand Ballroom. Finnegan's been in meetings all day in the suite, and he's still got a couple more so once you've settled in, just give the suite a ring and I'll join you."

Although Griffin was technically speaking to both of them, his gaze stayed on Riley and she saw Gabriel shift out of the corner of her eye.

He didn't like the idea. Big surprise there.

"Okay," Riley nodded before her partner could say otherwise. "We'll meet you there."

As much as she didn't want to give the impression of encouraging his attention, the reality was that Griffin had been at the hotel longer than both her and Gabriel had, which meant that combined with his trained eye, the agent was a good asset for pointing out things they otherwise might have missed. Feelings aside, it would be foolish to turn down that kind of assistance when there was an assassination to stop, and Riley knew it. She had to stay on problem, and deal with everything else later.

"All right," the Detail Leader nodded, looking more than a little pleased. "I'll see you soon, then."

With short good-byes, Riley and Gabriel left Griffin in the hallway and headed into an elevator decorated with a blue and white _Locus of Water _painting by Seiko Tachibana.

Gabriel pressed the button for the 20th floor. The door slid shut and it took all of three seconds before he turned to his partner with a look of half amusement, half confusion. "The hell was that?"

Riley played it cool. "What're you talking about?"

"You and Captain Underpants going on like besties all of a sudden." He watched her closely, waiting to be enlightened. "Care to explain?"

She shrugged like she couldn't make sense of it either. "I guess he just decided to stop being a huge tool."

Gabriel considered her answer for a long moment, then gave a snort. "Remind me to buy the two of you matching friendship bracelets. I'm thinking pink and purple."

It was going to be a long night.


	3. The Third Floor

**Roppongi District, Tokyo  
Grand Hyatt Tokyo Room 2016  
16:22 JST**

Gabriel walked into their Grand Twin room and took an appreciative look around. "Nice digs," he commented.

The room was spacious enough, with two beds and a night table lined along the wall to his left, and a desk with one chair and a 32 inch flat screen TV at his right. Between the beds and desk, and directly in front of him, ran a length of windows which boasted a panoramic eastern view of the Tokyo cityscape.

In truth, though, his attention wasn't so much on the room as it was on his partner as she walked past him and dropped her suitcase onto the bed closest to the windows.

"There's so much mahogany in here, I bet they used a whole tree," Riley observed. Spotting the television, she nodded towards it. "Let's hook up the tablet and see if Nelson's got any more intel."

"Yeah," Gabriel replied absently, staying where he was. It might have looked like he was admiring the view of the red and white striped Tokyo Tower off in the distance, but in truth he had been watching his partner for tells since before getting on the elevator.

After a few seconds of watching her unzip her suitcase, Gabriel sighed.

Riley had a damn good poker face.

Giving up, he turned to the other bed and unceremoniously dropped his suitcase onto it, feeling more than a little frustrated at the whole situation.

Ever since Griffin had bounced into the lobby with that idiot smile on his face, Gabriel had been trying to figure out what was going on. It didn't take a chip in his brain to know that something wasn't adding up, and it bothered him that Riley seemed to be in conspiracy mode over it. He didn't buy her claim for a second that Griffin's Prince Charming routine was brought on by some random change of heart. Griffin wasn't the type, for one. And there was no reason for them to be on such good terms considering how things in Syria had ended.

Unless…

A vice clamped hard in Gabriel's chest.

Unless Riley and Griffin had secretly gotten back together.

Gabriel let out a long, deep sigh as the vice tightened around his heart, and he wasn't sure what bothered him more: the fact that Riley might have actually hooked back up with that idiot, or the fact that he cared so damn much.

Christ – no. Stop. He didn't care. He _didn't_ care, and there was nothing going on between his partner and that joke of a Detail Leader. No way, no how. She _hated _him. There had to be some other piece of the puzzle he was missing.

But what? And why was Riley hiding it?

Of course, all Gabriel had to do was use the chip to pull up her phone records, check her texts and emails, her bank statements, track the GPS on her car…she'd be furious, probably murder him for it, but at least he'd know the truth in about five –

"Hey," Riley cut in. She was staring at him expectantly; a roll of HDMI cable in her hands. "You okay there, space cadet?"

Snapping out of his thoughts, Gabriel realized he'd been staring blankly at his unopened suitcase for easily a minute. She probably thought he was trying to unpack it with his mind. Gabriel turned to her in reply, taking in the small tease of a smile on her lips, the watchfulness in her sharp blue-green eyes, the way the late day sunlight streaming through the windows backlit her with a golden glow.

"Gabriel…?"

Damn it, he couldn't do it. He couldn't use the chip to get his answers. Not when it would mean breaking his promise to not snoop into her private life. Riley trusted him and he couldn't violate that trust, no matter how tempted he was.

She meant more to him than that.

And besides, he didn't care.

"Yeah, I'm good. Never better," Gabriel replied, reaching for the cable. "Although probably not as good as Griffin, judging from that Colgate smile he gave you. Practically needed sunglasses."

Okay, just because he wasn't going behind Riley's back with the chip didn't mean he couldn't still fish for answers above board. But not because he cared. He didn't. He was just…screening.

She handed him the cable with a shrug. "Hadn't noticed."

Gabriel frowned at the lie. Was Riley _trying _to mess with his head?

Taking a tablet and power cord from her suitcase, she turned away from him and went to the desk to plug the tablet in.

"I'm just saying," he continued, unraveling the HDMI cable, "you better be careful or you'll have a little Secret Service puppy following you around trying to hump your leg."

Riley shot him a dirty look over her shoulder. "Ew." Having plugged in the tablet, she left it to power up on the desk and turned around to confront him. "Did it ever occur to you that maybe we're both just being professionals and doing our jobs?" She raised an eyebrow at him, crossing her arms. "You should try it sometime."

Gabriel joined her at the desk and plugged the cable into the television. Flashing his best charming devil grin, he leaned close and captured her piercing eyes. "And make your life easier? Now why would I wanna do that?"

Although Gabriel had put himself a little too much into Riley's space, she didn't do anything but look up at him defiantly. "Good point," she murmured dryly. "I should just accept the fact that you're always going to be a pain in my ass."

The vice in his chest tightened again, and Gabriel surprised himself with his soft affirmation. "Always."

Christ, _what? _

Gabriel recovered quickly. "If you're lucky, that is."

Reaching quickly for the tablet, he plugged the other end of the cable into it and flipped on the TV. Riley remained silent, although he could tell she was watching him as she took a seat in the chair and he set the tablet in front of her. She immediately started to go through the passwords and connect to CDOC's secured network. The television flashed from a local news station to a black screen showing the red words of _TRANSMISSION CONNECTING_, and a second later, Nelson appeared on the screen. Dressed in his typical sweater-vest, he looked a bit bleary eyed behind his glasses. Although, that wasn't surprising considering the time was nearing 3:30 a.m. back in Virginia.

Riley gave him a sympathetic smile, positioning the tablet so its internal webcam would capture both her and Gabriel as he stood beside the chair. "Morning, sunshine," she said to the man on the television.

"In my books, it's not morning until I actually see the sun. This is just very, very…late. But hey," Nelson reached off screen and revealed a black, oversized coffee mug in the shape of Darth Vader's head. "That's why we invented these bad boys!" He smiled, taking a long sip.

Jameson came into view and hovered over Nelson's shoulder. "Just make sure I know to cover you when you're in the bathroom every five minutes," he said to his friend, looking only slightly more alert.

"Hey, Jameson," Riley said in greeting. "What's our status?"

Turning his attention to them both, the agent got down to business with a shake of his head. "Still no new intel about the second national. There hasn't been any more chatter since the initial interception, either."

"No surprises there," Gabriel replied. "You manage to get into the hotel's cams?"

Nelson set down his Vader mug and tapped at his keyboard. "Sure did. Man, there's a lot of them. I'm counting at least twenty on every floor. These guys don't mess around with security, huh?"

"Considering how pricey this place is, I'd say it's the least they can do," Riley stated. "So no new leads, but anything change with the op? Are the parameters the same?"

"No, actually," Jameson replied, glancing at something off screen. "Some new orders just came down the pipes."

Gabriel exchanged a wary look with Riley. "Go on."

"This isn't a wet op anymore," the agent continued. "When you find these guys, Prime Minister Abe has asked that whoever's behind this be taken _alive_, so watch where you're aiming."

"Yeah," Nelson chimed in, pointing his fingers into guns and randomly firing in the air. "So Gabriel, none of that _pew pew pew _you do._"_

Jameson raised an eyebrow. "Right. Basically, Abe wants to make an example out of these yakuza members, and he can't do that if they're dead. Everything else is proceedings as planned, though. You find these guys, and take them out of play."

Gabriel wasn't too much of a fan of the new orders. "That'll make things harder," he observed. "Bet he'll be regretting it when a gang member is holding a gun to his head and using him as a human shield."

Riley looked up at him; her expression serious. "You'll just have to find these guys before it gets to that point, and we'll take them out _quietly_. I don't want another 'uh oh' to deal with."

The last 'uh oh' had been the shooting of a Russian terrorist in California, who had made the fatal mistake of trying to aim his shotgun at Riley's chest. Nothing about that killing had been an accident.

"You're such a killjoy," Gabriel teased as he glanced at his watch. "And speaking of killjoys, shouldn't you be calling your new BFF? Don't want to make him wait, now, do we?"

Riley shot him a warning look as she stood from the chair. "I'll be quick," she said, walking towards the phone on the nightstand.

Unsurprisingly, both Jameson and Nelson looked confused. "Did we…miss something?" Jameson asked.

Gabriel shrugged and stole Riley's seat, half listening to her as she began speaking to someone on the other end of the line. "Just her and Griffin being all friendly and making plans together. Sure he stole her promotion, lied about it to her face, and was a huge prick in Syria, but hey – what's a little backstabbing between friends?"

Gabriel's neck snapped forward as something soft collided with the back of his head. Riley had thrown a pillow at him without breaking conversation.

Nelson stared, loudly whispering "I think she heard you."

* * *

**Roppongi District, Tokyo  
Grand Hyatt Tokyo Third Floor  
16:31 JST**

Riley's eyes were sharp as she stepped off the elevator into the large foyer. The first thing she noticed was how cool the air was as goose bumps raised under her blazer, and she guessed the temperature had been turned low in order to counteract the future body heat from hundreds of people.

Hmm. Air conditioning. Ventilation system. Maybe she'd ask Gabriel to chip more information about that when she was less annoyed at him.

Walking into the space, Riley pictured the building specs and immediately spotted the bar counter at her right. Orientating herself, she knew that behind her ran a curving flight of stairs which descended to the second floor, and an escalator beyond that. Straight ahead, a waiter walked out of one of the doors leading to the Grand Ballroom, carrying a tray of champagne bottles for the bar, and Riley could hear the tuning of stringed instruments wafting after him.

"Your bestie's in there," Gabriel said, nodding to where the waiter had just emerged. "He's talking to the General Manager." With an exaggerated sweep of his hand towards the ballroom, he motioned for her to lead the way. "Shall we get this over with?" he asked with sarcastic sweetness.

Riley elbowed him as she walked off, wondering who else she could ask about the ventilation system. She was still pissed that Gabriel had told Jameson and Nelson about Griffin's change in attitude, and if those two started grilling her, she'd break something. Like Gabriel's head. Or maybe Griffin's. Preferably both.

Riley set her jaw, forcing out her aggravation.

_Stay on problem_.

Coming to a stop in one of the entranceways, she moved her eyes critically around the Grand Ballroom, taking in the details and looking for problem areas. The room was massive – just under half the size of a football field – with row after row of tables covered in cream coloured linens and topped with fine china and bamboo centerpieces. In one corner, a bartender set up his cart next to a string quartet as they ran through a sound check on a raised platform. Down at the other end of the room, near a second bar cart, Griffin was holding a clipboard and speaking to a Caucasian man she recognized from her prep report as the hotel's manager. The man looked to be in his late 40's, with short dark hair and a crisp business suit.

Riley sensed Gabriel behind her. "Anything yet?" she asked.

There was a pause as his chip pulled information. "Nope – all clean. Although that second violin could use a tuning."

"Great, only 657 people to go." She turned to him, feeling smug. "And it's the viola that's off."

Gabriel smirked. "Remind me to buy you symphony tickets for your birthday."

"Riley!" Griffin had spotted her and waved with the clipboard, motioning for her to join him and the manager.

Crossing her arms, she gave Gabriel a warning look. "Remember; don't do anything too chippy. And be nice," she ordered, before walking towards the two men.

"When am I not?" he replied, following after.

As they made their way over, Riley continued scanning the room. She took in the twenty-foot ceiling with its red-tinted droplights, and tried to decide if plastic explosives could be hiding amongst the wires. She noted the absence of windows, which meant no sniper could make a long-distance shot from a nearby building, but also meant that any shooting would end up being close-range. She counted 60 tables and wondered how easy it would be to tape a gun underneath the tablecloth.

Griffin gestured to her as they drew near, speaking to the General Manager who looked anxious as he straightened his tie. "Christophe, this is Special Agent Riley Neal. Former Secret Service. She and her partner will be the ones focused solely on finding and stopping whoever is behind this assassination attempt. Riley, this is Christophe Lorvo; the GM."

Riley extended her hand and Lorvo shook it firmly. "Pleasure to meet you," she said. "Your hotel is lovely."

"The pleasure is mine." Lorvo gave her a weak smile, speaking in a noticeable French accent. "I have heard nothing but good things about you from Agent Griffin, and trust you will take care of this…issue…as discreetly and quickly as possible. I do not want my guests to know that anything is amiss." The man looked like he hadn't slept in a day, which was probably true. There was a lot at stake for Lorvo; not just lives, but his hotel's reputation.

"Of course," Riley replied, wondering exactly what those 'good things' were as she motioned to Gabriel. "And this is my partner; Special Agent Gabriel Vaughn."

Gabriel appraised the man. "You initiated a 'Smiles for All' fundraising campaign after the earthquakes in 2011. Raised quite a lot of money for disaster relief." He extended his hand, smiling. "It's nice to see big chains not forgetting that they're still part of a community."

Despite his nerves, Lorvo beamed. "Thank you very much," he replied, shaking the offered hand enthusiastically. "We of course opened our doors to all those without electricity or who were unable to return home after the earthquake. Roppongi Hills uses its own source of power, so we weren't affected by the power outages."

Griffin nodded. "That reminds me. I want you to take Agent Harris down to the breaker room so she can check for tampering." He spoke into the com at his wrist. "Barbara, I'm sending Christophe to you."

As Lorvo left to meet the agent, Griffin turned his attention to Riley. "Welcome to party central," he smiled, gesturing around like it was him who had the title of GM.

For the next thirty minutes, Griffin was happy to play tour guide as he walked Riley through the kitchen and around the room, answering her questions, and pointing out changes in the set up. The string quartet, for instance, had moved at the last minute from one corner of the room to the other in order to have better lighting. Although Gabriel had gone on the sweep with them, he had remained mercifully silent; probably busy running facial recognitions and background checks on everyone he saw both in person and on the cams.

Ending their inspection by one of the bar carts, Riley glanced at her watch before turning to Gabriel. "We'd better go change soon. We still need to do a sweep of the garage before Abe comes."

"Agent Neal?" Lorvo appeared at her side, now dressed in a tuxedo for the evening's events. He nervously pulled at his bowtie. "May I have a word, please?"

She glanced at Gabriel. "Sure."

Lorvo led her a few paces away as he fidgeted with the cufflinks at his wrist.

"I do not mean to add more pressure on top of what I can imagine is a very stressful task for you," he began. "But please, I beg you to take care of this issue as quickly as possible. The safety of our guests is paramount."

Riley nodded, feeling sorry for the man. "You don't have to worry about a thing," she said reassuringly. "America sent its top agent to find these guys."

Even if America's top agent was a pain in her ass.

Lorvo nodded, but didn't relax. "Thank you," he said, forcing a smile. "I very much appreciate it."

As the GM walked away, Riley turned back to see Gabriel looking at her like he couldn't choose between laughing hysterically and murdering someone. Saying something to Griffin she couldn't hear, he moved purposefully towards her.

She eyed him cautiously. Something was definitely up.

"We done here?" Gabriel asked, a bit forcefully.

Riley crossed her arms. "What's going on?" Looking over his shoulder, she saw Griffin flipping through the pages on his clipboard. "What were you two talking about?"

"Cookie recipes," Gabriel snapped. "Let's go."

She paused for a moment, trying to decide whether it was worth prodding him. No, not here. Riley gave him a nod instead. "Yeah, okay. Let's get changed."

They walked towards the elevators. The door opened instantly on their approach – had Gabriel done that? – and he punched the button for the twentieth floor once they were inside. By that point, Riley could practically feel the anger radiating off of him in waves.

She stared at him. "Okay, spill. What's going on? What's got you all riled up all of a sudden?"

Gabriel looked straight ahead and at first Riley was afraid he was going to ignore her. Then, after a moment, he let out a long, slow sigh; the kind he reserved for when he was really pissed off.

"That guy doesn't deserve you, you know," he finally murmured.

What the hell…?

"Who, Griffin?" Riley eyed him warily, trying to decipher the origin of his comment. "No one said he did."

Gabriel didn't reply. In fact, the rest of the elevator ride was spent in silence.


	4. Protection

**Roppongi District, Tokyo  
Grand Hyatt Tokyo Room 2016  
17:24 JST**

Gabriel sat uncomfortably in the desk chair, trying not to wrinkle the freshly pressed tuxedo that had been rented for him as he used the webcam in Riley's tablet like a mirror. Watching himself on the screen as he pulled and tugged with annoyance at the bowtie under his chin, every effort he made to tie it nicely just made the damn thing more lopsided and uneven. Geez, he hated suits.

"Hey, Riley, you about done in there?" Gabriel called, trying to keep the frustration from his voice.

She'd been in the bathroom for the last twenty minutes – had practically beelined for it with her garment bag once they'd arrived back in the room, murmuring something about having a shower and doing her hair, and hadn't been seen since.

"Just about," Riley called back through the door. "You?"

"I'm a guy. I was ready in three minutes."

"Must be nice."

To be honest, it had been a relief to get away from her. To have a bit of a break to collect his thoughts without Riley watching, trying to solve him like a puzzle. At least she had known better than to keep pressing him in the elevator. She must have sensed he was having a hard enough time resisting the urge to go back down to the third floor, find Griffin, and break his jaw.

Griffin. That _jackass. _

Gabriel tugged hard at one of the ends in frustration, and the bowtie practically came undone in his hands. "Damn it!" he cursed, pounding his fists down onto the desk. Maybe he'd find the man who invented bowties and break his jaw instead.

Riley called to him immediately, sounding worried. "What's going on? Is everything okay?"

"Everything's _fine,_"he snapped angrily, although immediately regretted it. Cursing himself, Gabriel tried for something softer. "I mean, I'm good. Just having a wardrobe malfunction."

On the other side of the door, Riley wisely remained silent instead of pointing out that Gabriel had already told her he was ready.

It had to be the jetlag. The time change was starting to catch up with him, and it was making him irritable and moody. It had nothing to do with the bowtie. Nothing to do with Riley, and definitely nothing to do with what Griffin had said about her. He was just jetlagged and needed coffee.

Of course, the painful twisting in his chest and anger bubbling up his throat told Gabriel otherwise.

Damn it, what the hell happened to not caring?

In front of him, the television flashed and the screen filled with the digitized Nelson, sitting at his desk and looking a little more awake.

"Hey, Rhett Butler, nice suit," Nelson quipped, saluting Gabriel with his Vader mug as he looked him over. "Though you might want to work on that bow. Or get a clip-on. Man, those things saved me in grad school."

Not waiting for a response, Nelson engrossed himself with looking around the hotel room and failed to notice Gabriel's growl as his irritation levels climbed.

"You ready to take Scarlett O'Hara to the ball?" Nelson continued. Unable to spot Riley, he turned to Gabriel for help. "She, uh…she nearby?"

Gabriel nodded behind him towards the bathroom door. "Still getting ready," he replied, growing suspicious at the scientist's question. "Why? Something come up?"

Looking guilty, Nelson ducked his head and began to circle the rim of his mug with his fingers. "No, I just…wanted to wish her luck on the mission," he shrugged.

Gabriel scoffed. "You had to call in to do that? Couldn't just say it over the ear…" pausing, he frowned as a thought popped into his head. "Wait a second..."

Nelson started to shift uncomfortably, like a man under interrogation and about to crack.

"You just want to see Riley in a dress, don't you?" Gabriel accused, eyes narrowing.

The scientist buckled immediately. "Oh, come on!" he pleaded. "She always wears jeans! Don't act like you don't want to see her in a dress, too. When else am I going to get the chance – "

"_Nelson…" _Gabriel growled in warning. Had it been any other day, he probably would have started teasing his friend about being a peeping tom. Instead, he was making veiled threats. But Gabriel was already through with men wanting to take advantage of Riley's body.

Nelson was startled by Gabriel's tone. Cocking his head to the side in surprise, he looked the agent over and his expression turned into one of quizzical concern. "You okay, bro?" he ventured. "You seem…edgy."

Gabriel sighed, rubbing at his eyes with the heels of his hands as he wondered how many more times he'd be asked that question. Nelson was right, though, even if 'edgy' was a bit of an understatement. "Sorry," he said lamely. "Jetlag's a bitch."

"You sure that's all it is?" Nelson didn't look entirely convinced as he leaned forward on his desk and enlarged the television screen with his head, whispering conspiratorially. "Did you and Riley have a fight?"

"What?!" Gabriel threw up his hands, exacerbated. "No, we didn't have a fight!"

Nelson immediately retreated back into his chair. "Okay, okay, take it easy. No need to get worked up. You know what happens when your amygdala's overstimulated."

Yeah, the same thing that happened when Amelia had dropped back into his life; he went off the rails.

"So," Nelson continued, speaking cautiously. "You're _sure _there's nothing bothering you? Because I'm here to talk if…" His sentence trailed off as something behind Gabriel caught his attention and his eyes went wide. "Oh, wow…"

Gabriel turned around in the chair and suddenly found himself standing, as if he'd been shocked to his feet. Frustration and anger fell away as he stared at the vision before him.

Riley.

She stood in the bathroom doorway, looking a bit startled by the utterly focused attention she was receiving from him. For a moment, the room was silent as she held Gabriel's gaze. Then, Riley ducked her head and studied the carpet as a bashful smile began to play across her lips.

Swallowing his heart back down his throat, Gabriel took Riley in, noting the way she had swept her hair to the right and allowed it free reign to curl in tendrils over her shoulder. The evening dress she wore was a red satin, shimmering with every movement and begging to be touched. Gabriel caught a sparkle of crystal beading that started under Riley's left arm, and his eyes moved down the curve of her waist and over her hip to where the beading ended mid-thigh. Where it stopped, however, the slit in Riley's dress began, and Gabriel shamelessly followed the teasing glimpse of bare leg all the way down to her silver heels. Overall, it was a bit disorienting for him to see his partner all dressed up, but at the same time, Gabriel couldn't take his eyes off her. He didn't even want to.

"Riley," Nelson started. "You look…"

"Beautiful," Gabriel finished, a bit breathlessly.

The sound of his own voice snapped him out of his trance. For God's sake, he sounded like some pimply-faced, love struck teenager picking up his date for prom.

Riley looked up at him with a mixture of surprise and doubt, as if she was second-guessing her own hearing. "…did you just say…?" she began in disbelief.

Gabriel cleared his throat. "I meant you clean up nice," he corrected. "Don't let it go to your head."

She nodded, as if that's what she thought he had meant the whole time. "You clean up nice, too," Riley replied with a shy smile, suddenly very focused on adjusting the straps of her dress. "Very James Bond, even if you can't work a bowtie to save your life."

"Couldn't find a YouTube tutorial," Gabriel lied, giving the limp fabric another useless tug.

"Here, let me," she offered, moving towards him. "My brother could never tie them, either."

Gabriel tried to turn down Riley's offer, but she was already in front of him, in his space, with eyes and nimble fingers focused on his throat. Breathing in vanilla, Gabriel balled his hands into fists at his side. His heart drummed a fast staccato and he realized he wanted some excuse – any excuse – to touch her, feel the softness of the dress, the bounce of her hair, the skin of her collarbone…

He snapped his eyes shut instead.

No. No, no, _no._

Clearing his throat for the second time, Gabriel stuffed his hands in his pockets. "So, James Bond, huh?" he asked, trying to distract himself as Riley continued tying the bow. "Who're you thinking? Daniel Craig?"

"Nice try," she teased. "You're not nearly that handsome."

Gabriel cocked an eyebrow, unable to resist. "Ah, but you do think I'm handsome."

"No, I – " Riley stopped abruptly, realizing what she had admitted to.

Their eyes met, and Gabriel could swear on his old man's grave that he saw a blush on her cheeks.

_Christ. _

"_Gabriel_."

Startled, both he and Riley whipped their heads to the flat screen to see Jameson looking unimpressed as he glaring back with crossed arms and a raised eyebrow. Shooting Gabriel a warning look, the message the agent was sending was clear: _I thought I told you not to fall for her._

Beside him, Nelson smacked Jameson's arm, presumably for the interruption as he hissed "_What're you doing? Didn't you see - " _

"You two ready to go?" the agent asked sternly, ignoring the flack he was getting.

Riley darted an unreadable sideways glance at Gabriel before turning away and going to her suitcase on the bed. Fishing out a wireless earpiece, she fitted it into her left ear and set Jameson with a serious look; all traces of her blush gone. "Ready," she nodded.

"All right," Jameson nodded in return, adjusting the levels of her voice on the computer. "Operation Red Sun is now live."

* * *

**Roppongi District, Tokyo  
Grand Hyatt Tokyo Underground Parking Garage  
17:45 JST**

Gabriel and Riley stood by the doors of the service elevator as a stretch limo nestled between two black Escalades pulled up in front of them, precisely on time.

The driver of the limo parked, the front passenger door swung open, and a man Riley recognized from her prep report as the leader of the National Guard's detail stepped out. His name was Michio Iwa, and from what she remembered reading about him, he was the no-nonsense type. Standing several inches above the country's average height of 5' 6", Iwa wore a thin goatee and his long dark hair pulled back in a ponytail that trailed down his jacket. He was young for his ranking, not much older than Riley, and assessed her, Gabriel, and their surroundings in a fast second before he made a circling motion with his hand; the fluidity of his movements hinting at a powerful, agile body.

The doors of the Escalades opened at Iwa's signal and twelve guards, all dressed in tuxes with their services pieces visible, came to stand in silent, perfect formation around the PM's vehicle. After looking around once more, Iwa finally opened the back door of the limo for Prime Minister Abe, who stepped out with a friendly smile.

Riley glanced around, wishing her Sig was at her waist instead of in the small silver handbag which hung over her shoulder. Even with thirteen guards and Gabriel in the cams making it hard for anyone to pull off an ambush, she would have felt more at ease in pants, with easier access to her weapon. Stupid formalities.

Although, those same formalities meant that Gabriel was dressed in a fitted tux. Sneaking a quick, sideways glance at her partner, Riley had to concede she didn't mind that part one bit.

Damn him. She was trying to forget the way he had looked at her when she'd walked out of the bathroom in her dress, just like she was trying to forget that heated little moment when she'd been fixing his tie, but…_damn _him. He really _was_ a handsome devil.

Abe walked towards them with Iwa at his heels, smiling and extending a hand in greeting. Like his guard and Gabriel, the Prime Minister also wore a tux; the only difference being the slightly extra bulk to his chest from the bulletproof vest hiding beneath his dress shirt. Clean-shaved and without a strand of white in his jet black hair, Abe could have passed as a much younger man that the wrinkles which creased his forehead and the deep-set bags beneath his eyes implied.

"You must be the Americans sent here to aid in my protection," Abe spoke, with a foreign slur to his t's. Shaking Gabriel's hand, he turned to Riley and shook hers as well. "Agent Vaughn, Agent Neal, thank you for coming. It is a pleasure to meet you both."

"You as well, sir," Riley replied.

Suddenly there was a crashing noise to their left, and everyone but Gabriel reacted. Pulling Abe behind him, Iwa had his gun drawn and pointed before Riley could even open her purse. With a precise chop of his hand, he dispatched two guards to investigate.

Standing at the ready between her partner and the sound of the commotion, Riley heard Gabriel speak up.

"I wouldn't bother," he said. From the relaxed tone of his voice, she could just imagine him calmly standing with his hands clasped, not even reaching for his gun as the men disappeared behind a line of parked cars. "Some of the hotel staff just started unloading a delivery of silverware and one of them dropped a tray. Gotta cut the guy some slack, though. He's only worked at the Hyatt for three weeks."

Sig out, Riley lowered it but continued acting as Gabriel's shield. She knew he was right, but didn't want to give the impression of just how right he was. The Prime Minister, of course, knew nothing about Clockwork.

Iwa glancing suspiciously at them both as he held his position in front of Abe.

Several moments later, the two guards returned. Their guns were already holstered and one of them began speaking in rapid Japanese to the others. Hearing the report, Abe stared at Gabriel with wide eyes, murmuring words in Japanese Riley assumed were baffled praise. Behind him, some of the men of his detail exchanged looks of bewilderment as they lowered their weapons.

Iwa glared at Gabriel.

"He said it was simply a clumsy worker, who dropped a silver platter," the Prime Minister translated, looking impressed. "The man begged forgiveness, stating he is new to his employment. Less than a month."

Dropping her gun back into her purse, Riley looked over her shoulder at Gabriel as he gave her a knowing smile.

"We've got this place covered," he stated reassuringly, speaking to Abe but keeping his eyes on her.

Riley smiled warily back, aware that Iwa was watching her partner suspiciously as he holstered his gun.

Abe turned to the leader of his guard. "I feel I am, as they say, in good hands," he said, spreading his own hands wide.

Iwa just nodded.

As they all loaded into the large service elevator, Nelson's voice was in Riley's ear. "I think you just earned yourself an A+, bro."

Nelson also had access to the hotel cams, and if his proud tone was anything to go by, had watched the whole thing happen on the screens back in CDOC. Riley could just imagine his wide, excited grin.

"Take _that_ Japanese technology!" he exclaimed in triumph. "You may have mech warriors, but America's got Gabriel!"

* * *

**Roppongi District, Tokyo  
Grand Hyatt Tokyo Grand Ballroom  
18:28 JST**

Gabriel slowly made his way past the string quartet, barely registering their performance of Mozart's lively 'Dissonance IV' in C major – one of the Doc's favourites. He was focused; with almost all of the chip's processing power dedicated to scanning the faces of nearly six hundred of Japan's most rich, famous, and influential as they talked over hors d'oeuvres, laughed at inside jokes, and drank from crystal champagne flutes with bobbing raspberries.

The rest of his attention was on Griffin, and making sure he stayed the hell away from Riley.

After spending the last half hour scanning faces as he walked the room, nothing yet was amiss. Abe's entrance had been problem-free and met with enthusiastic applause, then walking up to a podium and facing the crowd, the Prime Minister had introduced President Finnegan; humbly welcoming him as Japan's guest of honour. The cheers had been deafening as Finnegan had entered the ballroom, waving appreciatively with Griffin and co. close behind.

The Detail Leader must have been looking for her as he walked in. Despite the large crowd, it took Griffin all of ten seconds spot Riley, and Gabriel's stomach had flipped as he watched the man's eyes nearly bulge out his head. Then, to Gabriel's burning anger, Griffin's expression had changed to the type of look a predator wore in the moments before it took down its prey.

He should have seen it coming - especially when Griffin had practically made his intentions known during their little chat after the sweep. Still, it didn't stop Gabriel from finding the closest waiter with alcohol and downing a glass on the spot.

Riley, thank God, had actually been doing her job and had missed the whole thing. But it had been in that moment Gabriel swore he wouldn't let Griffin so much as blink near his partner.

So far, his plan was going well. From his current position by the quartet, he was much too far away to see through the throngs of people, but knew from the cams that Griffin was currently standing with Iwa near their protectees as the two nation's leaders carried on conversation at the other end of the room, surrounded by an entourage of well-dressed listeners. Gabriel had picked out the rest of the presidential detail as they walked inconspicuously through the crowd, and figured there wouldn't be any sort of rotations for still some time.

Scrutinizing Griffin on the cam, a bubbling of anger rose up in Gabriel's chest as the man looked around, probably searching for Riley as much as he was searching for danger.

Luckily, he wouldn't find her. Riley was standing about twenty feet from Gabriel, surveying the room from near the bar cart next to the quartet while the server took drink orders. She was safe from Griffin, but apparently not safe enough from a graying man the chip had told Gabriel was one Satoshi Morimoto, who sat at a nearby table and ogled Riley behind Coke bottle glasses he must have stolen from the 80's.

This, at least, Gabriel could handle.

Catching her eye, he nodded at the older man. "Careful, partner," he teased over the mic. "I think the Minister for Defence is getting sweet on you."

Riley arched a playful eyebrow. "If he asks for my number, I'll try and score us a couple bombs," she teased right back.

"I'd be happy with just a Global Hawk drone," Jameson chimed in through the earpiece. "Gabriel, anything yet?"

"No." Gabriel turned and faced the crowd. "I'm running outta A-listers to scan, and none of them so far tie directly back to Takayama or the Yamaguchi clan." He shook his head. "Whoever these people are, they're ghosts."

An attractive woman dressed in silky black and pearl earrings smiled at Gabriel as she sashayed by, sipping a glass of red wine. He scanned her face and immediately brought up her profile. Ryoko Yonekura; age thirty-eight. Former actress and model. Won a national young beauty award at the age of eighteen by sleeping with one of the judges.

"But you should see some of the dirt I'm digging up," Gabriel smirked.

Jameson chuckled. "A room full of politicians, industry leaders, and cultural icons? Yeah, I'll bet."

At that moment, Gabriel spotted Agent Thomas approach Griffin on the cams. He remembered shaking hands with the line-backer sized Secret Service agent on the plane to Syria, and watched closely as Thomas exchanged words with the DL. Then, Thomas pointed straight in Riley's direction, and Griffin walked off, leaving Thomas to cover Finnegan.

Hot anger flared up Gabriel's chest again. "Oh no, you don't," he growled.

Behind him, the quartet finished with Mozart and immediately began the Russian favourite 'On the Hills of Manchuria'; a haunting song with a beat meant dancing.

It gave Gabriel an idea.

Walking over to Riley, he brazenly took her by the hand and pulled her from the bar cart, leading her towards the musicians as they weaved along with the music.

"What is it? What do you see?" Riley asked, sounding alarmed.

Gabriel resisted answering. Stopping in front of the musician's stage, he faced Riley, raised their linked hands, and placed her other hand on his shoulder. Then he placed his own low on Riley's shoulder blade, pulled her in, and held her tight. His heart sped up immediately.

Would she kill him for this? Did he even care?

Nope.

By then, Riley had figured out his plan. "Gabriel…" she warned sternly.

"Just follow my lead," he said with a dangerous grin.

A new voice rang loud in his ear as he moved his feet in time with the music, leading Riley through the steps.

"Gabriel, what the _hell _are you doing?" It was Lillian. About time she joined the party.

"Classy lady like you? Can't you tell?" Gabriel teased, winking at one of the cams as he and Riley danced below it. "The waltz."

"I'm fully aware of that," his boss snapped in aggravation. "What I'm asking is _why._"

Riley looked anything but amused as he led her around in beats of three, but didn't try to break away. Maybe because she didn't want to make a scene, but he hoped it was for another reason.

"Lillian's right, Gabriel," she hissed. "We're supposed to be finding the yakuza assassin, remember?" Her eyes darted at the crowd as people began to stare. They weren't exactly on a dance floor.

"Relax, I see more people by running facial recognitions from the cams, anyway." Gabriel grinned at her, using a cam close to one of the entryways to scan a new face. "The CEO of Japan's largest cell phone company just arrived. Did you know he's worth $9.1 billion?"

Riley wasn't impressed.

"Gabriel…" Lillian threatened in his ear.

"Just enjoy yourself for once," he insisted, ignoring his boss. "Especially since I find out now that you've been holding out on me. You're one hell of a dancer, Riley." And it was true. There was a grace and fluidity to her movements that he didn't know she had.

The woman was full of surprises.

"I'll enjoy myself after the mission's over," she replied flatly, but still didn't let go.

Gabriel took in the warmth of her body beneath his hands. The hint of a reluctant smile forming on Riley's lips. "That a promise?" he asked, a little too seriously.

"_Gabriel_." Lillian spat his name like a curse. "It's one thing to scan faces from the cameras, but do you really need to be _waltzing _while you – "

He clicked a button at his ear and her voice went silent.

Riley shook her head at him as they danced across the floor. "She's going to kill you for that, you know."

Gabriel shrugged, not giving a damn as he held her in his arms. "It's all for a worthy cause," he muttered.

"Worthy cause?" Riley looked at him skeptically, her brown locks sweeping through the air with every turn. "You're trying to tell me that us waltzing is somehow keeping the Prime Minster safe?"

"_Vaughn_."

Riley's head snapped towards the sound and Gabriel tensed, instinctively pulling his partner closer as he continued their dance.

"No, not the Prime Minister," Gabriel admitted, his jaw clenching as he saw Griffin draw near. The man's eyes darted between him and Riley. "You."


	5. Discoveries

**Roppongi District, Tokyo  
Grand Hyatt Tokyo Grand Ballroom  
18:35 JST**

Riley's breath caught in her throat as Gabriel continued their dance, leading them so that he faced Griffin and she faced the wall. Tendrils of unease snaked from her chest. "_Me?"_

What the hell…?

What the _hell?_

Gabriel said nothing, but his expression became stony and focused on the man behind her. Leading Riley through a basic box step, her twisting sense of unease quickly spread as she realized why he had minimized their movements. Only dancing within a square meant Gabriel would always be facing the Secret Service agent. He wasn't planning on turning his back to him.

Did this all have something to do with what the two men had been talking about earlier? And why Gabriel had been so angry in the elevator?

Riley watched her partner closely, feeling the growing tension in his body through her own. The rigidity in his fingers as he held her hand. The stiffness of his arm muscles beneath her arm. The knotting in his shoulder against her palm. The tightness she saw in his jaw line as he clenched his teeth.

Her unease coiled into heavy lead within her chest.

Whatever was going on, it had gotten worse.

"Griffin?" Gabriel practically growled at the man.

Riley heard Griffin's voice over her shoulder and could just imagine him standing there with hands on hips, looking unimpressed. She kept her eyes on Gabriel.

"You mind explaining to me how you expect to catch some yet-to-be unidentified assassins while you're busy cutting a rug?" the Secret Service agent glowered.

Gabriel's normally blue-gray eyes were dark, like an approaching storm. "I've got it covered."

"You've 'got it covered'?" Griffin repeated, barking a mirthless laugh. "That's the best you can come up with?" There was a pause and Riley could practically hear him shaking his head. "I somehow doubt that."

"Doubt all you want," Gabriel retorted. There was a strain in his neck muscles. "Doesn't change the fact that it's true."

"Right," the DL mocked. "I must have missed the part in my prep report that says you're actually a magician. Let me guess - next you'll pull a rabbit out of your hat. I've got a dollar bill – wanna make it disappear?"

Gabriel squeezed Riley's hand and she could see in the flash of his eyes and purse of his lips that he was restraining himself from replying. Either that, or rearranging Griffin's face.

Riley craned her neck around until she could just spot her former coworker in her peripheral. "I know it may not look like it, Griff, but we really do have this covered." She spoke in a soothing tone, hoping it would help placate the growing cloud of hostility that was building around her.

Griffin wasn't convinced. "Come on, Riley, I can't let you be a part of this." He held out his hand to her, like she needed rescuing, and Gabriel sucked in his breath. "Let me get you a drink, and we can do a rotation."

For the briefest instant Griffin's gaze raked down her body, and that's when Riley saw it. The dangerous half-smile and dark eyes she had called The Look when they had been dating. It was the same expression that had been on his face in Panama after they had saved the VP and taken him home - right before Griffin's mouth had collided with hers and he had ripped her shirt off.

Oh, _hell_, no.

Gabriel's fingers curled hard against her back and she swore she heard him growl under his breath. Geez, had he seen it, too? Was _that _what this was about?

"We're in the middle of an op, Griff," Riley replied, fighting to keep her voice neutral. "I'm not drinking on the job, and I'm not leaving my partner."

The rejection didn't faze Griffin. "One's not going to kill you, and you're better off without him if this is how he plans on spending the evening."

"I believe the lady said no," Gabriel cut in through grit teeth. "And I'm telling you, I've got it covered."

"Yeah?" Griffin withdrew his hand and crossed his arms, looking smug. A challenge was coming on. "Prove it. What's Abe doing right now?"

Whipping her head back around to her partner, Riley saw the hint of a triumphant smile on his face. "Gabriel…" she warned.

"He's talking to Finnegan on the other side of the room. Iwa and Thomas are with them," he easily answered.

Okay, that hadn't been _too _chippy.

"And…?" she heard Griffin prompt, sounding unimpressed.

Riley and Gabriel exchanged looks.

Oh, boy…

"And there are other five people standing around listening to them talk," Gabriel began. His eyes started to dart through the air, and Riley could just picture the information he was pulling up. "The man in the red tie at Abe's left is Ken Takakura; Japan's own Clint Eastwood. He's been arrested fourteen times, mostly for public intoxication, but once for sending a nosy photographer to the hospital. Next to him are Mr. and Mrs. Kunio Busujima. Kunio's company makes Pachinko machines and last year the business was investigated for allegedly donating over a million dollars to Abe's cabinet in exchange for being in the Parliament's good books. It was Kunio's idea. The guy with the scotch, Tatsunori Hara, is the manager for the Tokyo Giants. In 2012 he had an affair with his son's English tutor and had to pay a ransom in hush money when someone threatened to go public. Word got out anyway and the press _thought_ the yakuza were behind the blackmail, but it was actually the wife's sister. Last but not least, we have Dr. Chiaki Mukai; Japan's first female astronaut. When she first got the invitation to tonight's banquet, she emailed her best friend and asked if she'd go dress shopping. Then the doc renewed her gym membership." Gabriel paused to give Riley a wry smile. "She's been there every day since."

In that moment, the quartet played their last notes of the Russian waltz and Riley promptly kicked Gabriel in the foot the moment he brought their dance to its conclusion.

"That's some party trick," she hissed angrily.

"Hey, he asked for it," her partner murmured back, not looking the least bit remorseful as he continued holding their positions. Looking over Riley's shoulder, Gabriel's lips curled up with a loaded smile. "Oh, and Griffin – Abe's champagne glass is almost empty. Maybe you wanna get _him _a drink."

Riley extracted herself from her partner's embrace, feeling the chill ghost of his hand on her back. Facing Griffin, she watched the man blinking in astonishment at what her partner had reported.

"How the hell...?" he began, looking at Gabriel like he couldn't decide whether to accuse him of being the biggest charlatan in the world or a real-life Professor X. After a moment and a quick shake of his head, he turned to Riley. "Is this guy for real?"

Riley flashed Gabriel the briefest look of annoyance before giving Griffin a shrug, as if this was all perfectly normal and not a part of a top secret government project. "We've got it covered," she answered simply.

Griffin's eyes darted back and forth between her and Gabriel for a few seconds. Then, with one final suspicious appraisal of them both, he gave a _humph _and stalked away.

Riley watched the Secret Service agent disappear into the crowd. Then her heart tumbled in her chest. "Are we going to talk about – "

"Nope," Gabriel cut in.

Figures.

With a sigh, she mentally boxed every part of their dance away. Every emotion, every touch, every word spoken was banished, and Riley turned her attention back to the mission. They had an MIA assassin to find, and the night wasn't getting any younger.

With renewed focus, Riley faced her partner with the intention of discussing their next move, only to find that he was looking off in the direction of the bar cart.

"Huh…" Gabriel muttered, with eyebrows knit together in confusion.

Looking as well, Riley immediately spotted Christophe Lorvo, the General Manager, hunched over in conversation with the man behind the bar cart. If it was possible, Lorvo looked even more frazzled than he had been the last time Riley had seen him, with his eyes darting around and mouth scrunched in a frown as he spoke. Worry lines creased deep in his forehead and this time, instead of tugging at his cufflinks or adjusting his tie, Lorvo was playing with his watch. He twisted the platinum band around and around on his wrist like a nervous tic, almost neurotically.

If anyone needed a drink, it was him.

"What is it?" Riley asked.

"The server," Gabriel answered, not taking his eyes off the man. "I just noticed he's got a prosthetic finger, but there's nothing in his medical records about it."

A warned bell went off in Riley's head. "Prosthetic finger?" she repeated. Her eyes darted back to the server, right away spotting what Gabriel was looking at. Just as Lorvo was twisting his watch, the server was twisting the pinkie of his left hand around and around, as if the flesh and bone weren't connected to the rest of him.

The warning bell rang louder.

"Gabriel, tell me everything you have on that man," Riley ordered urgently.

After a quick glance at her, he stared into the space before him. "Name's Daiki Sugimoto. Thirty-six years old. Single. He's worked at the Hyatt since it opened in 2003. Started off as a dishwasher at the Chinaroom restaurant. Good credit history, no suspicious banking deposits, saves all his money for a rainy day." He looked back at Riley with a frown. "You think this is our guy? He's about as vanilla as it gets."

Gabriel had a point; even Sugimoto's appearance was plain. He had non-descript, short black hair, a flat nose, round face, and monolid eyes – in other words, the generic 'Asian' look. Other than the prosthetic finger, there was nothing noteworthy about him.

The Secret Service tic that was gnawing at Riley's stomach, however, told her otherwise. Something wasn't adding up.

"Gabriel, in the yakuza if you commit an offence you have to cut off the tip of your left pinkie finger as punishment. Every time you commit an offence after that, you have to cut more off. It's a ritual called yubitsume."

She watched as Sugimoto hunched down behind the cart and pulled out a deep green bottle of red wine. It had a white label on it, with the words "Le Pin" printed in red, cursive script. Holding the bottle out to Lorvo, the manager nodded his approval, still obsessively twisting his watch.

"Keep digging," Riley persisted, not taking her eyes off the waiter as he opened the bottle and flawlessly poured two glasses. Then he set both the glasses and the bottle on a serving tray. "Check his phone records, his emails, texts, browser history – everything. There has to be something we're missing." Then she looked at Lorvo as he took a few steps away from the cart and gestured for Sugimoto to follow with the tray. "Lorvo, too. Check it all again. And connect us back with CDOC."

"On it."

As Lorvo and Sugimoto began to walk off in the direction of Prime Minister Abe, Riley immediately followed, with Gabriel a step behind. Tailing the pair, she felt her purse over her shoulder, heavy with the weight of her Sig.

After a few moments of weaving around chatting guests and tables, Gabriel spoke. "Riley, I've got nothing." He sounded grim, but also baffled. "The hell is going on?"

"_Nothing?_" Riley shook her head, equally confused.

It didn't make any sense. How could some Joe-Blow with no visible connection to the Yamaguchi clan be sporting such a tell-tale sign that he was yakuza?

Riley kept her eyes glued to Sugimoto's back as he moved through the crowd, expertly balanced the tray on one hand. He and Lorvo were drawing closer to the Prime Minister and she still didn't know what they were dealing with. "How is that possible?" she asked out loud.

"Tell me about it. How can this guy be yakuza when he's not?" Gabriel replied. "Nelson, you catching this?"

"Yeah." Nelson sounded a shade miffed in Riley's earpiece. "So kind of you to let us back in on the mission."

Gabriel began discussing the situation to their friend, but Riley barely registered the conversation. Instead, she was playing and replaying Gabriel's question in her mind. Something about it had resonated, like the light from a match in the darkness.

How can he be yakuza when he's not?

How can he be yakuza…?

When he's not…?

How…?

The answer that roared to life in her brain stopped Riley dead in her tracks.

"Because he's not…" she breathed.

Gabriel was at her elbow, on high alert. "You got something?"

She looked at him, feeling a rush of adrenaline coursing all the way to her fingers and toes. "Sugimoto. He's _not _yakuza."

As Gabriel blinked at her answer, she took back off after Lorvo and the server, speaking rapidly into her earpiece. "Nelson – tell me about the facial scans that Gabriel does. How accurate are they?"

Gabriel caught up with her and they exchanged glances. She could see him starting to connect the dots.

This was it. This _had _to be it. It was the only thing that made sense.

"Well," Nelson began, sounding a bit confused. "They're meant to be 100% accurate under ideal circumstances. Remember Luther Vick? The guy who was patient zero in that outbreak in Texas?"

"Charmer like that guy?" Gabriel asked, ducking around a waiter. "Who could forget?"

"Okay, so then you remember me telling you that the chip uses eighty-eight nodes of the human face to make a match," Nelson continued. "Basically, it comes down to math and placemarks on the face called nodal points. Facial recognition software like the kind you have, Gabriel, scans a person's face and defines those nodal points – like the distance between your eyes, the length of your jaw, width of your nose – then measures them. It's a very exact science, which is why it yields such accurate results."

They were closing in on Prime Minister Abe and President Finnegan. Riley could now hear them discussing baseball stats to their five avid listeners above the hum of the crowd.

"But in theory," she asked, "if you were to mimic the nodal points on someone else's face, you could trick the scan into thinking you're someone else?"

"In _theory_, sure," Nelson replied. "But in _reality_ these scans are taking measurements on a sub-milimeter scale. To trick it, you'd have to employ some incredibly precise – "

"Prosthetics?" Gabriel finished, looking at Riley as his eyes lit up with understanding.

Lorvo and Sugimoto had reached the nations' leaders, and the Parisian GM was politely interrupting the conversation in order to introduce the bottle of wine he had imported from Bordeaux for the Prime Minister and their honoured guest.

Riley arched a brow. "Let's go find out."

* * *

**A/N: Every time I post a chapter, I keep telling myself I'm going to remember to give a big thank you to all of you out there who have been reading, reviewing, favouriting, following, and PMing me. You all rock so much. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, THANK YOU.**

**Also, because it's almost Easter, I have an Easter egg hunt for you. The people I've been writing about are real, but some of the details aren't. Have fun separating the fact from the fiction. ;)**


	6. Change of Plans

**Roppongi District, Tokyo  
Grand Hyatt Tokyo Grand Ballroom  
18:38 JST**

Gabriel took the lead as they closed in on the circle of people. The two nation's leaders faced Lorvo and Sugimoto – or whoever the hell he was – as the server stood ready to pass out the two glasses on his tray, and Lorvo proudly sang the praises of the dark green bottle in his hands. Filling the spaces in between were the same five men and women Gabriel had recited to Griffin earlier. Just behind their protectees, Iwa and Thomas surveyed the scene.

"Approach with caution and don't spook him," Lillian ordered in his ear. "There are too many people around. If Riley's theory is correct and he realizes his cover's blown, they could all be put in danger."

Gabriel shared a nod with his partner. "Copy that."

"You will love the downy flavours of mocha, black cherry, and currant," Lorvo boasted, holding the bottle for all to see. "Le Pin is a wine like no other." Nodding to Sugimoto, the server took a glass in his hand and stepped forward, offering it to Abe.

Before the Prime Minister had a chance to receive the drink, however, Gabriel cut through the circle and stepped in between, facing Sugimoto. "Pardon us for the interruption, folks," he said, clasping his hands in front of him. "But my partner and I need to borrow Mr. Sugimoto for a minute." He gave the imposter a reassuring smile, watching for tells. "Shouldn't take too long."

Lorvo's own smile fell and eyebrows knit together in concern over the sudden interruption. "Yes, uh, certainly," he replied, sounding frazzled as he began to twist his hand around the neck of the bottle. His eyes darted nervously to the people around them before fixing on Riley. "Is everything all right?"

She joined Gabriel in the middle of the circle, her voice calm and reassuring. "Everything's fine. We just need to get Mr. Sugimoto's take on a few matters."

Riley gestured towards the exits, but the server didn't move. He stood frozen in front of Gabriel, with the tray still poised in one hand and holding the offered wine glass in the other. A look of confusion marked his face. "My take?" he repeated with a heavy accent, not understanding the idiom.

"He's stalling," Lillian chimed in Gabriel's ear. "Get him out of there."

Finnegan piped up from behind to smooth things over. "They only want to ask a few questions, son," he explained. "Nothing to worry about. You're in good hands."

"A few questions?" Sugimoto continued, playing the innocent lamb card for all it was worth.

Lillian piped up again, sounding insistent. "Move him out."

"That's right," Gabriel said, reaching for the man's elbow to guide him away. "Just a few – "

Without warning, Sugimoto snapped his wrist upwards, throwing the contents of the wine glass straight at him.

Gabriel's arm jerked up, but he wasn't fast enough. The liquid splashed over his face, going up his nose and hitting his lips and teeth. "_Hey!"_ he sputtered.

"Gabriel!"

Shoved backwards as he wiped the wine from his eyes, Gabriel opened them just in time to see Riley in front of him, pulling the gun from her purse as the tray crashed to the floor and Sugimoto brought a hand over his wrist.

"Federal agents! Don't – "

Gabriel picked up a brief Wi-Fi signal, and the room plunged into darkness.

Screams erupted.

"What the hell just happened?!" It was Lillian. "We've lost all the cams!"

Pulling his gun, Gabriel felt the air shift in front of him, then the sound of a body hitting the ground. "The lights went out," he explained. "We're in the dark!" He heard people moving and speaking all around, felt a drop of wine trail down his jaw, but all he saw was pitch black. "Riley?" His hand swept through empty space. "Riley, where are you?!"

She cursed. "Almost had him." Her voice was angry and urgent, and coming from the floor. "Sugimoto – he must have killed the power." The direction of her voice changed and he guessed Riley was getting to her feet. "I saw him press a button on his watch. Gabriel, I can't see anything – can you?"

"Nothing." Heart beating in his chest, Gabriel took a few steps forward and continued sweeping an arm through the void. That damn imposter couldn't have gotten far if Riley had just missed him. Was he going after Abe in the dark?

"What was the watch? A detonator?" Lillian persisted. "Did Sugimoto blow up the fuse boxes?"

That was a good question. If that was the case, the lights weren't coming back on anytime soon.

Accessing the hotel's power grid, it appeared in front of Gabriel like a glowing checkerboard with connecting lines that pulsed red in the darkness. Above the board, two words flashed urgently: _System Override. _

"It wasn't a detonator. I think his watch triggered some kind of a computer virus," Gabriel explained. "It took over the main controls and shut the whole building down." His hand found a bare arm he hoped was his partner's. "Riley? You okay?" She must have been standing right in front of him, but Gabriel still couldn't see her.

"A little rug burn but I'll survive," she answered. "You?"

Drips of liquid ran down Gabriel's temple. He could still taste black cherry and mocha on his tongue; smell it as he breathed. "Of all the things I've been attacked with, a glass of $900.00 wine isn't so bad."

"I'm more of a beer girl, myself." She squeezed his arm urgently. "You work on the virus. I'll look for Sugimoto."

Before Gabriel could ask Riley how she planned on accomplishing that without vision, the glow from a cell phone lit up a small section of darkness next to them, illuminating the owner's face. Riley snatched it away and held it up like a flashlight, sweeping it around and lighting up a number of surprised faces.

Clever girl.

As Riley moved into the crowd and flashed her light, Gabriel brought up the power grid's coding, spotting section after section of corrupt execution lines that pulsed at him like wounds. "Nelson? You seeing what I'm seeing?"

"Sure am, brother." There was the audible sound of knuckles cracking. "Pretty sophisticated stuff, but nothing we can't handle."

"Gabriel." Riley's voice was hurried in his ear. "Iwa and his team have Abe secured, and I don't see Sugimoto anywhere. He must have headed for the stairs."

A knot formed in Gabriel's gut as he anticipated her next words.

"I'm going after him."

"Riley – " he began. Gabriel wanted to ask her to wait until he had gotten the power back on so she wouldn't be going alone. Maybe it was because they didn't know who they were really up against, but something about Riley chasing after some yakuza member without backup – with the added disadvantage of wearing high heels and a dress – didn't sit well with him.

But they didn't have the luxury of time.

"Be careful," he finished.

"I will."

Frowning, Gabriel focused back in on the lines of corrupt code. He had to fix this – fast.

* * *

**Roppongi District, Tokyo  
Asahi-dori Avenue  
18:45 EST**

After almost a minute of running down winding staircases to the first floor, Riley burst out into the cool night air and onto a sidewalk brimming with young club-hoppers, all eager to take advantage of Roppongi's entertainment scene. Quickly, she scanned up and down the busy street for something that was bound to stand out against the fishnet stockings, miniskirts and pleather: a man in a tux.

Found him.

"I've got eyes on our guy. He's about a block away, running north towards Roppongi-dori Avenue," she said into her mic. Tossing the borrowed cell phone into her purse and securing it over her shoulder, Riley took off after the Sugimoto-look-alike, dodging around club-goers and wishing she had more practice running in heels.

Hell, Riley wished she was wearing running shoes.

Lillian's voice crackled in her ear. "Stay on him and if you get a clean shot, then take it. Just remember; it's to be non-lethal only."

Legs pumping, Riley knew that clean shot would never come. There were too many people. Her only chance was to catch up to the imposter and take him down before she lost him in the crowd.

"Copy that," she breathed.

* * *

**Angel's Bluff, Virginia  
Cyber-Command Cyber Defense Operations Center (C-DOC)  
05:46 EST**

Tapped into a street camera, Lillian watched Riley on a monitor running hard after her target. She was now sprinting east on Roppongi-dori Avenue and despite being spotted by Sugimoto a few moments ago, had narrowed the distance between them considerably. Still, Lillian had a feeling that things were about to get complicated.

Up ahead was a blue and white sign for the subway.

Lillian turned to the closest technician at a computer. "I want to know what subway station they're approaching. Get its cameras on the monitors, and find out when the next train arrives."

As the technician went to work, Lillian spotted Jameson a few feet away, conversing on his headset. Catching her eye, the agent wrapped up his sentence and tapped a button at his ear, disconnecting the call.

"How's Analysis coming with the ID?" Lillian asked him.

Jameson shook his head. "Still nothing yet, but they're now looking at MO and broadening the nodal points for facial recognition. It's a long shot but if someone really managed to pass off as Sugimoto, then maybe they looked and sounded similar to begin with."

"And we can use Sugimoto as a base to find out who this man really is," Lillian finished, nodding her understanding. "Good. Keep me informed. If Riley loses him and he removes his face prosthetics, discovering his real identity may be the only way we'll find him again."

As if on cue, Riley's voice huffed with exertion over the speakers. "He's taking the stairs down to the subway." Her heels clacked hard and fast against the pavement.

Watching from the street cam, Lillian was just in time to see Sugimoto's dark head of hair disappear down the stairwell. By her estimations, Riley would reach that same point in another seven seconds.

"It's the Hibiya Line of Roppongi Station," the technician reported, typing fast at his keyboard. "Cameras are coming up now. The next train arrives in less than fifteen seconds."

A wall monitor showing multiple street views of Roppongi-dori Avenue flicked over to a number of different angles from inside the subway station. From a ceiling camera, Lillian spotted the yakuza member already halfway down the long flight of stairs, pushing past a group of brightly dressed club hoppers in his hurry to get to the bottom. A moment later, Riley appeared at the top of the stairs, grabbing hold of the railing as she descended.

It was going to be close.

From his computer terminal, Nelson let out a whoop of joy. "Okay, I think that's it!" he exclaimed, scanning the lines of code on his screen. Typing in a command prompt, he let his finger hover over the Enter key. "And God said…let there be light!"

He punched the key and three blacked out wall monitors snapped back to life with their bird's eye view of the Hyatt's ballroom. The cams were back up, and so were the lights. Hundreds of guests gave collective looks of relief.

Lillian smiled approvingly. "Good work, you two." Scanning the crowd, it was easy to spot Gabriel as he ran for the exits to back up his partner. His white dress shirt was dotted and splashed with red. It looked a little too much like blood splatter. Lillian focused her attention back on the monitor with the subway cameras, drawn to it by the sound of a horn and screeching wheels.

The subway had arrived.

"Gabriel, Riley just reached the bottom of the stairs and is heading for the turnstile. Do you have eyes on her?" Lillian asked.

There was a pause as he accessed the subway's video surveillance. "Yeah, I see her," he replied, racing through the foyer. "I also see our friend is nearly at the platform. Subway doors are opening, Riley. You've got the tail-end of rush hour coming at you."

On the monitor, a ticket booth camera showed Riley vaulting the turnstile, much to the shock of onlookers. She landed, stumbled in her heels, but pushed on. "I'm almost there!"

It was going to be very close.

"Lillian!"

Turning to the sound of her voice, the Director of Cyber-Com was confronted by Jameson, who had a hand to his headset. He looked pale.

"It's Analysis – they've made an ID, but…" The agent's eyes trailed to Gabriel on the monitors, dashing down the stairs towards the second floor. "It's not good."

* * *

**Roppongi District, Tokyo  
Asahi-dori Avenue  
18:47 JST**

Half focused on watching Riley from a ceiling cam and half focused on the sidewalk in front of him, Gabriel watched as his partner ran onto the platform and straight into the wall of businessmen who'd come off the subway.

"Move! Move!" she yelled, gesturing with her hand and trying to keep her eyes on Sugimoto in the travelling mass of suits. She was a shot of red in a sea of black.

Gabriel dodged around a club-hopper with bright pink hair and candy-cane striped leggings. "He's gone to your right," he told his partner. "Looks like he's heading for the last car on the tracks."

"I see him," she gasped, fighting through the last of the crowd.

About three cars ahead of her, Sugimoto glanced back at Riley then hopped inside the subway. Riley followed suit. Then, just as a bell tolled that the doors were about to close, Sugimoto jumped back onto the platform and sprinted towards the end of it.

"Riley! It's a fake-out!" Gabriel cried. "Get off the subway!"

The doors began to slide shut and Riley leapt out, nearly catching her dress as they closed behind her.

The _hell_ was that imposter doing?

With no one standing in the crossfire, Riley aimed her gun just as the subway began to pull away and Sugimoto reached the end of the platform.

A warning bell went off in Gabriel's head.

"_Freeze!" _Riley yelled.

Without looking back, their assassin leapt off the edge of the platform and onto the tracks. Then disappeared into the tunnel.

Riley lowered her gun, her shoulders slumping with exhaustion. "You have got to be kidding me," she breathed.

Gabriel shook his head in disbelief, feeling a sense of unease in his gut. Something was wrong.

Reaching the end of Asahi-dori Avenue, he cut right. Straight ahead and a few blocks away, Gabriel could just make out the blue and white subway sign. "I'm a minute out," he told his partner. Riley was already running for the end of the platform, preparing to continue the chase. But he didn't want her going in there alone. Not when there weren't any cameras inside the tunnel to help him guide her. Not when his instincts were telling him that trouble was ahead. "Just wait for me, Riley, and –"

"No, Gabriel," Lillian cut in. Her voice sounded strained. "There's been a change of plans. Riley is continuing the mission, but you are going to the nearest hospital. Now."

The news brought Gabriel up short and he came to a stop in the middle of the sidewalk, blinking in disbelief. "_What?" _he exclaimed. Had somebody back in CDOC lost their mind? "Why?!"

On the camera, Riley stood frozen in place. There was a look of confused horror on her face, like she had somehow just failed him in some terrible, unforgiveable way.

His heart twisted in pain for her.

"Riley, I'm fine," Gabriel insisted. "There's nothing – "

Lillian cut in again. "Gabriel, listen to me. Our Analysis department is sure they've identified the yakuza member who's been posing as Daiki Suigmoto, based on facial structure and this particular type of MO. His real name is Yoshinori Miyazaki, and last August police traced the sudden death of a rival yakuza gang leader back to him, even though all they could prove was that he had been holding a glass of champagne the leader drank from before he died. The coroner's report confirmed that the champagne had been laced with tetrodotoxin."

A knot formed in Gabriel's gut as he began to put the pieces together. A dark green bottle from France. A glass being passed to Abe. The taste of wine in his mouth.

"Oh my God…" Riley whispered.

Lillian took a breath, like she was about to rip off a band-aid. "Gabriel – we have reason to believe that you've been poisoned."


	7. No Turning Back

**A/N: I'm sorry this is late! I just got home from a week out of the country and it's been a little nuts around here. I'll try harder to hit my weekly updates going forward. Enjoy!**

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**Roppongi District, Tokyo  
Roppongi Station, Hibiya Line  
18:49 JST**

Riley stood at the edge of the platform, staring at the metal tracks below. She knew she had to jump, knew she had to follow Yoshinori Miyazaki into the tunnel, but simply couldn't move. Her body wouldn't cooperate. It was like her blood had turned into lead within her veins, weighing her down and crushing her from the inside.

Poison.

_Poison._

And it was all her fault. She had failed to protect Gabriel from it.

A thick lump formed in Riley's throat, cutting off her airway. Choking down a lungful of oxygen, she forced herself to focus on a solution instead of the crushing guilt and fear. "Is there an antidote? What does the poison do?"

Lillian's voice was low and to the point. "It's a neurotoxin that causes muscle paralysis. Given that this was an assassination attempt, we have to assume that the concentration of the poison in the wine was extremely high. Nelson's still running some projected numbers, but depending on how much of it Gabriel was exposed to, a rapid onset of symptoms could mean total respiratory arrest inside of twenty minutes. And there is no antidote."

Riley felt the colour drain from her face. She forgot how to breathe.

Oh, God.

Twisting away from the platform to go be with her partner, Riley hadn't even taken a step before Lillian piped up in her ear.

_"_Riley, stop. I know you're worried - we all are - but there's an ambulance on route to take Gabriel to St. Luke's International Hospital. They'll get to him faster than you will, and can put Gabriel on life support if it becomes necessary. What I need you to do right now is apprehend Miyazaki before he gets away."

No..._no..._

Chest constricting painfully tight, Riley squeezed her eyes shut. It went against every part of her training to turn her back on Gabriel now, orders or not. But at the same time, Lillian's plan was sound. She had already covered all the bases and like it or not, there was nothing Riley could do for Gabriel that the paramedics couldn't do better with their equipment and training.

Still, turning her back on Gabriel felt like the worst decision of her life. It hurt. It surprised her how much it hurt to leave him.

Riley swallowed past the lump in her throat. "Copy that." Squeezing the grip of her gun tight in her hand, Riley turned back to the edge of the platform and jumped onto the tracks. She landed hard and into a crouch between the rails, slapping her free hand to the ground to brace herself. The black, rough surface was still warm against her palm. Standing, Riley hurried into the dark abyss of the tunnel. "Gabriel, you're going to be okay. I'll meet you at the hospital as soon as I get this guy."

"Damn it, Riley, _wait_." Gabriel's voice was tight in her ear and it sounded suspiciously like he was running. "Don't go in there alone. I'm almost - "

"Gabriel, just what the hell do you think you're doing?" Lillian cut in. She sounded angry. Very angry. "You are under orders to stay put so the paramedics can get to you. Chasing down Miyazaki is not only in direct violation of those orders, it's also helping the poison spread faster through your system."

A spiral of anxiety swirled up Riley's throat. "Gabriel, are you _trying _to die?!" she exclaimed. Her voice echoed into the darkness. A deep twilight had set around her as she moved further into the tunnel, making it hard to see. "You have to go to the hospital!"

"And you need backup," he snapped in response. "If I was going to drop dead in twenty minutes, I would have started to feel something by now. I chipped the poison. It could be _hours_ before even the first symptom-"

"Damn it, Gabriel," Riley cut in, yanking the borrowed cell phone from her purse. "I don't care!"

"Riley is perfectly capable of apprehending one, likely unarmed, target by herself," Lillian added. "This poison could kill you, Gabriel. You are _off mission_. Am I making myself clear?!"

Holding the cell phone over her raised gun for light, Riley continued into the darkness. "Listen to her, Gabriel," she demanded, sweeping the light in front of her. "Go to the hospital or I swear to God you won't have to worry about the poison because I will kill you myself." From the phone's beam of light, Riley saw a narrow, metal platform that stretched down either side of the tunnel for maintenance crews to walk on. The platforms only stood about a foot off the ground. A sparse number of lamps were mounted high up on the walls, giving off limited amounts of light. Otherwise, the tunnel was empty. There was no sign of Miyazaki anywhere.

"Riley." Gabriel's voice was tight and strained. "I - "

"_Go._" God, why did he have to be such a stubborn pain in her ass? Didn't he care that he could stop breathing and die from suffocation? No. No, she would not let that happen. She would not watch him die. "Gabriel, _please_ go."

In the silence that followed, Riley prayed she had gotten through to him. Specifically, she was hoping that her use of 'please' would strike a chord, since - despite nearly a year of being partners - she had never said that word to him before.

Admittedly it was a cheap trick, but Riley couldn't have cared less.

As she continued her sweep, the dead air was finally broken with Gabriel's slow, frustrated sigh. From the sounds of things, he had stopped moving. "Fine," he growled, sounding anything but. Evidently, he didn't like her tugging at his heartstrings.

Riley let out a breath of relief as some of the crushing weight lifted off her chest. "Thank you," she murmured.

"Thank me in person at the hospital," he answered stiffly. "Ambulance found me. Just...Riley, just promise me you'll be careful. This whole tunnel escape doesn't sit right, and I don't like it."

The fact that Gabriel had just shown concern for her safety for the second time over the course of the evening was not lost on Riley. There was something unsettling about it, especially since he was the one in danger.

"I'll be fine. I'm the one with the gun, remember?" Riley strained her eyes as she moved further into the tunnel's darkness, illuminated by the cell phone's beam of light. "Miyazaki's just using the poor visibility as a cover to get away since he didn't lose me with his little subway trick. He seems to like the whole blind exit strategy."

Probably because it worked.

The further Riley moved into the tunnel and away from the bright station lights at her back, the darker it became. Despite the lights on the walls and the phone in her hand, it was nearly as pitch black as the ballroom had been after Miyazaki's virus had cut the power.

"Maybe," Gabriel answered, sounding doubtful. "But I've got a bad feeling that ain't it." In the background were the voices of other men - probably the paramedics. "Keep your - no, no stretcher - keep your eyes open."

"Gabriel, get on the stretcher," Lillian said flatly. "They're trying to lower your blood pressure."

Riley almost smiled, picturing Gabriel waving off the paramedics in annoyance. He was on his way to the hospital. They'd soon know how much poison was in him, and the doctors would keep him alive. Put him on life support if they had to. Gabriel was going to be okay. He was. He _was_.

"How're you feeling?" she ventured. "Any symptoms yet?"

Gabriel must have heard the worry in her voice because his tone softened considerably. "I'm fine, Riley. I should be out there with you."

Her heart ached. She wanted so badly to be in the ambulance with him. So badly it hurt. "I'll be at the hospital soon."

"Next subway arrives in three minutes, Riley," Jameson informed her. "How's it coming in there?"

Riley forced herself to focus back on the task at hand. "No sign of our guy yet," she admitted, carefully sweeping her light source as she moved briskly forward. The dank stench of metal and stale air filled her lungs. All she could hear were the echoing clacks of her own heels on the ground and faraway rumblings of other subway lines. "But his only two choices are to keep going towards the next station or double back and - "

An echoing _click_ caught Riley's attention. It had come from somewhere up ahead and she rushed forward to find its source.

"Riley? You okay?" Gabriel's anxious voice was loud over the sirens in the background. The ambulance was on route to the hospital.

"Yeah, I just heard something," she quickly answered. This was it. Her gut was telling her this was it. "I think it was a door closing. Are there any mechanical or utility rooms in this tunnel? Any places Miyazaki could hide?"

"Hang on, I'm accessing the subway blueprints," Gabriel rushed.

Riley moved fast, sweeping the phone back and forth along both the maintenance platforms in search of what could have made the noise.

"Got it. Quarter mile in, there's a small electrical room on the right."

In another moment, Riley spotted a steel door. "I see it." Hopping over the tracks, she stepped up onto the platform and put a hand on the door knob. Gun ready, she paused to take a deep, calming breath.

Time to end this. Gabriel was waiting for her.

Flinging the door open, Riley burst inside. Flashing the light around the room, she saw tiled floor, a small, circular storm drain, a row of blinking electric switchboards that sat along most of the far wall...but no Miyazaki. Hitting the lightswitch, fluorescent lights flicked to life above Riley as she lowered her gun.

"Riley, what's happening?" It was Gabriel.

"Do you have eyes on Miyazaki?" Lillian asked.

Riley frowned in disappointment at the switchboards, feeling like she was missing some piece of a puzzle. "No, the room's clear."

"Then get outta there," Gabriel ordered. "It could be a trap."

Riley's instincts weren't so sure.

"That doesn't fit Miyazaki's profile," she explained, stuffing the cell phone back in her purse. "This guy doesn't use the direct approach - he blends into his surroundings and carries out his missions quietly without drawing attention to himself. Then he just slips away."

"Okay," Jameson chimed in. "But he's not in the room. How do you explain that?"

Good question. If she was right and Miyazaki did go into the room, he either had come out the way he came in, or...

A light bulb went off in Riley's head.

"There's more than one exit," she explained, feeling a rush of adrenaline. Adding her gun to her purse, Riley moved to the closest wall and began running her hands along its cool surface. "At the White House there are all kinds of hidden entrances that lead to secret, underground passages the Secret Service uses to move the President around." Finding nothing, she moved to the back wall, roaming her hands over the electric switchboards. "Some of these entrances you can access through revolving bookshelves, or a false wall...some are even trap doors hidden in plain - "

Wait a second.

Riley spun around and stared at the storm drain in the middle of the room, no bigger than her fist. The storm drain. The tiled floor. Hidden in plain sight...

"What is it?" Gabriel asked, anxious for an update.

Bent over the drain, she pried off the grated metal cap and stuck her hand in. Inside, she felt a lever. "My other exit," Riley breathed. She should have noticed it before. Due to the spacing around tiles, it would be impossible to tell if some weren't actually attached together. It was the perfect way to hide a trap door.

Pulling on the lever, a rectangular section of the tile in front of her began to raise upwards, like she was lifting up the hood of a car. Riley lifted the section until it was past ninety degrees, then stared down at what had been hiding beneath. "It's a staircase."


End file.
